


Yellow

by tastelessbracelets



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: M/M, nobody is dead!! woohoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 13:54:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19086391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tastelessbracelets/pseuds/tastelessbracelets
Summary: Ponyboy helps Soda pack Sandy's stuff up after she leaves, and he finds a bottle of yellow nail polish.





	Yellow

There are boxes. Piles of them stacked in a corner, and Sodapop is sad. He’s sulking and Darry and Ponyboy don’t know what to do. Sodapop isn’t ever sad. Sodapop being sad isn’t something that happens often, and most times you can’t even tell when he’s sad. He hides it, for Darry’s sake. Darry already has enough to worry about.

Soda is filling one last box, Ponyboy quietly stepping into their room. The two exchange a glance. It’s brief, and Pony thinks that he sees Soda near tears. Soda is packing up all of the stuff Sandy ever gave him, and all of the things that remind him of her. 

“Ponyboy, don’t ever fall in love with a girl. They’re not all they’re cut out to be.” Soda mumbles, his voice rough and quiet. Pony is slightly shocked but doesn’t say anything in response. 

They don’t exchange any other words, Soda begrudgingly placing items into the boxes. Ponyboy looks at the pile Soda has on the floor of all of Sandy’s belongings. He spots a bottle of nail polish. It’s a faded yellow color, and Ponyboy hates admitting to himself that he actually really likes it.

“Soda?” He pipes up, and Soda turns to look at him. “D’you maybe think it’d be better if you just took a break and let me do some of the packing?” Pony asks, his voice quiet. He’s nervous, because what if Sodapop takes that the wrong way? Soda keeps looking at Pony and finally lets out a long sigh.

“Yeah, kid. Maybe you’re right. All these memories aren’t really helping me much.” He laughs weakly, and Pony just smiles in the kindest way he can manage.

The moment Soda leaves the room, Ponyboy pounces for the nail polish. He shoves it into his sweatshirt pocket and begins to pack items up into boxes, some of which he’s familiar with. Some of Sandy’s old earrings, a bottle of her perfume. Small things like that, which seem so minuscule when you’re together but bring memories pouring back in such rapid intervals it makes you live maybe a little too much in the past, and not enough in the present. 

Pony gets lost in thought, and before he knows it all of her things are packed up. He tapes the box shut and decides to hide all of them in the depths of the one storage area they have, a tiny closet where Darry keeps all of his old things, like his letterman jacket. His high school diploma is in there too. Basically, nobody ever goes in that closet. 

The boxes are a little much for Pony to carry, but he manages in two trips. He finds Soda sitting on the couch, smoking a cigarette. That’s very out of character. Pony knows for sure that Soda’s gonna go out with Steve tonight, and the swish of the front door opening confirms that. They always hang out when Soda’s feeling down. 

“Hey, Steve.” Pony mumbles, giving him a small smile. Steve spares a glance, and Pony is relieved that it isn’t followed by a mean remark. Soda gets to his feet and ruffles Pony’s hair.  
“If Darry asks, just say I’m spending the night at Steve’s. I’ll see you tomorrow. After I cool off. And you and Darry better not go gettin’ into a fight, okay?” Soda’s voice sounds a little more even, and definitely not as sad. That’s relieving, at the very least. 

The two leave, and that means that Ponyboy has absolutely nothing to do. Two-Bit shows up, but that isn’t much fun. He’s a little too rowdy for Pony’s taste at the moment. 

“Aw, c’mon kid. Johnny told me he’d be heading over here soon.” Two-Bit nudges Pony, making him smile at least a little. “No sulking for you once he gets here. I know how you two are around each other.” Pony blushes only a little bit at the remark. 

Sure enough, the door gently opens and in comes Johnny. He’s got his jacket on but takes it off once he enters, draping it across the back of the couch. Pony gives him a grin, and Two-Bit shoves him a little. 

“Johnny! I got the room to myself.” Pony grins and Johnny cracks a bit of a smile too. The two sit on the bed, in silence for a moment before Pony quietly presents Johnny with the bottle of nail polish. Johnny gives him a bewildered look. “I know, I know,” Pony starts, “but I think it’d be nice. Add a little pop of color. It’s not like it’ll be there tomorrow, we’ll have chewed it off by then. Please?” He pleads with Johnny. 

Johnny lets out a sigh, but nods. “I suppose there’s no… real harm… in puttin’ some color on your nails. But I’m not going first. You can barely draw a straight line. God knows what you’ll do with that.” Johnny smirks, and Pony smacks him on the arm. Johnny grabs Pony’s wrist and places Pony’s hand on his knee. Pony can feel Johnny’s cool skin through the hole in the knee of his jeans. His stomach twists pleasantly. 

Johnny pulls the small brush out of the bottle, letting it drip a few times before putting the first coat on Pony’s thumb. It’s not as pigmented as Johnny would’ve hoped, but he proceeds to finish off the rest of Pony’s fingers on his left hand. Johnny’s proud with his craftsmanship, it’s pretty neat and only a little got onto Pony’s skin. 

“Pone, am I gonna have to do more than one layer of this? Cause that seems like an awful lot of work.” Johnny mutters, focused on painting Pony’s right hand. 

“I mean, I think so? In all the movies I’ve seen, girls usually do it a couple of times. And it’s pretty streaky, don’t you think?” Pony asks, meeting Johnny’s eyes when Johnny briefly looks up from Pony’s hand. Pony realizes suddenly that they’re holding hands. He feels Johnny’s grip tighten around his palm, and he blushes. “I—I mean, I think it’s okay if you only do one coat,” Pony whispers, and he hopes Johnny agrees because Pony really wants to keep holding his hand like this. It’ll stop if Johnny pulls away and does another coat.

“You gonna paint mine then, Pony?” Johnny asks, his voice barely above a whisper. Pony nods and slowly pulls his hand out of Johnny’s grasp. Johnny hands the bottle over to him, and Pony leans in closer than necessary to paint Johnny’s nails. Their foreheads practically touch. He finishes Johnny’s left hand, and Pony raises his gaze to meet Johnny’s. “Does it look good so far?” He questions, and all Johnny can really do is nod, Pony is so close to him. 

Pony starts on Johnny’s right, and Johnny pulls his hand away. “Pony. I really gotta tell you somethin’, man.” He begins nervously, but they both already know what’s going to be said. The gaze Pony has on Johnny isn’t cold, but it sure is intense. He looks almost too much like Darry in the moment. 

“You know you don’t have to say it, Johnny. I know already.” Pony whispers, a small smile on his face. He brings Johnny’s left hand close to his mouth and gently blows on the nail polish, hoping it’ll dry quicker.

“Well, what was I gonna say then? Since you already know.” Johnny mumbles, his cheeks bright red. His greased hair is falling in tendrils on his forehead, almost covering his eyes. Pony looks at him. 

“That you like me. A lot. Because I was just thinkin’ the exact same thing about you before you brought it up.” Pony grins, this big goofy grin that’s reserved for when he’s happiest. The look on Johnny’s face lets Pony know that he’s right. Pony goes to speak again, but he feels Johnny’s left hand, which he was blowing on, against his cheek. He freezes up a little but relaxes once Johnny’s right hand is on his right cheek. 

God, he hopes he isn’t blushing so hard that Johnny can feel the heat. But it’s hard not to blush when Johnny Cade leans in and kisses you. Pony happily kisses back, his hands wrapping around Johnny’s wrists. Johnny’s got the softest lips. He smells so good, too. Pony pulls away before he passes out from just how overwhelming it all is.

“I do like you, Pony. A lot.” Johnny smiles, and the two of them laugh just a little bit. Pony brings his thumbnail to his mouth and chews gently, a nervous habit. 

A bit of the yellow polish peels away and falls onto the floor.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading! sorry if it was confusing at parts haha a lot of hands are involved


End file.
